The Cafetière. The French press. Whatever you call it, there is no denying that it is perhaps one of the most revered ways to brew coffee.
Since its invention in 1929 by Ugo Paolini, the Cafetière is renowned for its simplistic, yet admirable design – perfect for sharing or producing multiple cups of coffee for one!
It’s likely you may have already used one, but as no two coffees are the same, we’ve produced our own recipe (heavily inspired by the James Hoffman method!) that we feel works excellently with many of our own espresso and filter roasts – ensuring silky smooth results every time.
You will need:
- Cafetière – We recommend our Stainless Steel or Hario Cafetière
- Filtered water
- Scales
- Timer – either the built in one on your scales or if you don’t have a timer, the one at the top of this page
- Spoon (To remove coffee crust)
- Grinder – hand or electric will do!
- Coffee
- Coffee cup(s)
We tend to brew our coffee using a 1 : 17 ratio – for example, 15g of coffee to around 250mg of water, increasing each variable depending on how much you wish to make! For example if you are using a larger press such as the Hario Cafetière, use 30g of coffee to 500mg of water for the same recipe, but double the amount, and so on.
Step One – Water
Using filtered water, boil your kettle. Ideally you will want your water to be around 93 degrees when it makes contact with the coffee.
Additionally, it is worth rinsing your cafetière and coffee cups with warm water, so they are well-heated and ready for coffee!
Step Two – Grind
Using a medium grind setting (not too fine, not too coarse), grind the amount of coffee you wish to brew with.
Step Three – Coffee and weight
Put the ground coffee in the cafetière, placing it on the scales. Use the ‘tare’ button to zero the scales. This is necessary to accurately measure the amount of water in chamber.
Step Four – Pour and measure
Carefully pour the relative amount of water. Again, according to the 1 :17 ratio, if you’ve used 15g of coffee, pour 250g of water. If you are using 30g for example, use 500g of water.
Step Five – Start the timer and wait!
Allow the coffee to brew for four minutes.
Step Six – Remove the coffee crust
Using a spoon, carefully remove the coffee crust from the surface level of the water. You may wish to give the coffee a light stir after this.
Step Seven – Wait for four more minutes
Just to allow the coffee to cool then prior to serving!
Step Eight – The press…but not quite!
Once the timer has finished, lightly press the plunger of the cafetière, but not all the way! For best results, keep the filter of the cafetière just below the surface of the water – about 1cm should be ideal.
Pour and enjoy
If you’ve followed the above steps, you should now be able to enjoy silky smooth, freshly brewed coffee, now at a perfectly drinkable temperature.
